Government Bans News About Saba TV

Hamed Irani, Rooz Online:

Through a confidential memo to news agencies, the secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran forbade them from publishing any news on Saba satellite broadcasting television station belonging to an offended but influential cleric Mehdi Karrubi. Karrubi, who broke off from his participation in the Iranian regime after his protests about the rigged presidential elections of June 2005 were silenced by state officials and clerics, recently announced the formation of a new political party, Etemad Melli (National Trust).

The confidential memo was faxed to all news agencies and newspapers, stating that it came into effect as of the receipt of the memo. It was sent just a few hours before Saba satellite broadcasting channel was scheduled to be launched from the Persian Gulf city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The launching was postponed because of “technical” reasons as explained by its staff. Previously, the Press Deputy at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance of Iran had also issued a directive to all advertising agencies to not give any advertisements to Saba TV, warning them that if they did, they would be dealt with accordingly. The advertisement ban is also a departure from current practice where these companies give advertisements to other television stations that broadcast from outside. READ MORE

Just last Wednesday, Iran Air security agents prevented a Saba television official from disembarking from the aircraft after it arrived in Dubai and had asked him to hand over the television tapes to them. The stand off was resolved by the intervention of Karrubi himself, but the launching of the station was delayed anyway as the person responsible for the operations in Dubai announced that broadcasting could not begin as scheduled. In the latest development, Behrouz Afkhami, a renowned film director and producer who is in charge of the television station said that it was not yet clear to him whether the problem that has caused the launching was technical or political. The leaders of the National Trust party have said if broadcasting cannot take place from Dubai, then they would make a decision on finding another location. Dubai has been chosen because of its proximity to Iran and easy access.

Mohammad Ali Abtahi, the presidential deputy for parliamentary affairs during Khatami’s presidency who operates a weblog recently revealed that Mehdi Karrubi had said at a meeting of the National Trust that “there was a lot of pressure to stop the launching of the television station. But I will not go into details to demoralize you.” Abtahi continued that when he learned of the obstacles, he understood and agreed that it was better not to discuss the issues at the time.

Mehdi Karrubi broke off from the ruling elite in Iran after his presidential bid failed because of what is now commonly knows as the irregularities and rigging of the elections process by the hardline conservatives who have the levers of power in Iran. Karrubi complained to the highest authority of the land, ayatollah Khamenei, but the latter refused to step in. Observers familiar with the developments regarding Saba TV station say that government officials would like Saba not to be operational and remain in unofficial ban. This pressure to prevent the launching and operation of Saba is similar to the kind of pressures the Iranian government applied on the Dutch government to prevent it from allowing the launching of an independent television station operated by Iranians in exile, even though the Parliament of Netherlands had passed a bill for the television station and even allocated a budget for it.